


Family Dinner

by Okadiah



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Choose Your Own Ending, F/M, Family Fluff, Hints of Luke and Leia, but they're unnamed, kind of, perfect world AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-11-19 21:39:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11322267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okadiah/pseuds/Okadiah
Summary: Anakin and his family enjoy the pleasures of a rare family dinner together.AU where Palpatine was detained and removed from the senate and the galaxy is saved, Padmé becomes Grand Chancellor, Anakin becomes a Jedi Master, and they have their children.





	1. A Perfect World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a cute little story that wouldn’t let me go. I’m sure this has been done plenty of times, but here. Have another. Enjoy!
> 
> Also an important note at the bottom of this chapter before you continue to the next.

Anakin smirked as he watched his young Padawan bounce slightly on her toes as they stood together before the Grand Chancellor’s private suites. It had been two weeks since their last visit, given the length and scope of their most recent mission, and it had been growing clear in the Force all week just where the girl’s attention had drifted.

He was sympathetic. He’d been waiting all week for this too.

They both stood straighter as the door opened to reveal a boy of ten years, dressed in the fine clothing of a junior dignitary. Beside him, in elegant but casual clothing, stood his mother.

Padmé looked at the both of them with gentle eyes.

“Master Skywalker,” she said, holding his eyes long enough he could see the stars in them. She looked to the girl, who’s matching dark hair was pulled into tight buns on the sides of her head. “Padawan Amidala.”

“Grand Chancellor,” Anakin replied politely with a smile he couldn’t quite hide before he looked down at the sandy haired boy. “Young master Amidala.”

“Please come in,” Padmé said, shifting so they could enter. “I thought Obi-Wan was coming?”

“He got held up,” Anakin replied as both he and his daughter stepped inside. The door slipped shut behind them with a quiet hiss. “He sends his apologies and promises he’ll do his best to make the next family dinner. Ahsoka?”

“Much the same,” Padmé said apologetically. “Looks like it’s just the four of us tonight.”

“And there’s nothing wrong with that,” Anakin said as he smiled at the boy. “Come here.”

His son threw himself at Anakin, finally given the go-ahead, much like his daughter was now wrapped in Padmé’s arms. “Oh, I missed you! You’ve been helping your mother?”

“As much as I can,” his sandy haired son replied before his eyes flashed with excitement. “I got to visit Rodia recently! I learned all about the economic environment, and how it effects its native system all the way to the Core. I’m working on a proposal that should help bring more aid to that sector.”

“You are so smart, just like your mother,” Anakin told him, pleased he’d read the Force right years ago when they’d had to make a decision about the futures of their children. Their kind-hearted son was better suited to the rigors of politics than the labors of the Jedi, which his daughter excelled at in every field.

“Is dinner ready?” his daughter asked Padmé. “Father and I have had only ration bars for the last two weeks.”

It was a struggle not to blush when Anakin’s stomach rumbled, just as eager as his Padawan daughter to have _real_ food. Padmé and the children giggled, then she nodded over her shoulder.

“I thought that might be the case. Threepio has already set the dining room for dinner. We were just waiting on you two.”

His son grinned at his twin mischievously before nudging her shoulder. “Race you there!”

His daughter smirked and was already bounding forward in great leaps, her Padawan robes snapping at the sudden action. His son’s face fell. “Hey, no fair! You’re using the Force!” He surged forward in a late attempt to make up the distance, but there was no way he’d beat her.

“You’d think he’d learn by now,” Anakin said, watching their ten-year-olds. “He’s a budding politician. He should know to stipulate no Force use beforehand.”

Padmé smiled. “He does. But I think he likes to let her use the Force. It’s not as if either of them really get to play much, do they? Or to show off.”

As a growing Jedi Padawan, and a young diplomat and son of the Grand Chancellor, Anakin supposed his wife had a point.

Predictably their daughter won, but once they’d all taken their seats, it was his son who held her attention as he told her all about his own adventures in the galaxy. The smell of food, warm and fresh, wafted up from the table. He and his twins eyed the warm bread.

Smiling, the three of them lifted their hands and used the Force to will it their way. It lifted and wobbled in the air. His son’s face was filled with concentration. He wasn’t anywhere as strong as his twin in the Force, but he was capable of this much. Anakin smiled when thin, flakey cracks appeared in the crust of the bread, spreading and betraying who was influencing it more.

“No Force at the table,” Padmé said as she used her knife to delicately slice through a piece of steamed vegetable. “I have the entire senate to corral on a daily basis. I don’t need the one dinner I have with my family filled with Force displays, thank you.”

“Yes, mother,” the twins said, though Anakin didn’t miss the veiled, imploring look they also gave him as well. But he would support Padmé, even if he didn’t quite see the problem she did. The unified front was important when they were together and could truly take on the role of parents. Now that the bread had settled back on the plate however, he couldn’t help but take his chance. After all, the order had been for the kids. Not him. It started to lift at his command.

“That means you too, Anakin.”

The bread settled back on the plate, and now it was his turn to give his wife a side-eyed glance. She didn’t even look at him. Her eyes remained pleasantly glued to her food. The kid’s eyes were amused and alight. His daughter even snickered.

The rest of dinner proceeded normally, sans Force, and Anakin basked in the happy warmth which filled the air between the four of them as they indulged in what families across the galaxy never thought twice about. They talked and laughed and teased, all over this one meal they were lucky to have once a month.

After dessert, they moved into the parlor. Anakin sat next to Padmé where they both watched their daughter teach their son basic Force techniques. It was a simple game, one in which they attempted to toss a ball to each other without catching it with their hands. Their son struggled a bit with the technique. The first several rounds he managed to slow the ball down, but staggered at the end and had to catch it with his hands. This last time, however, he managed to succeed, catching it with the Force before sending it in a flat arc back to his sister.

“I did it!” his son said brightly. “Did you see?”

“Of course we saw, sweetheart,” Padmé said with an encouraging smile.

“Now do it again,” his sister coached as she tossed the ball back. “Remember. Focus.”

He and Padmé watched the twins, the loves of their lives, play together and contentment swelled over Anakin. The Jedi Master wrapped his arm around Padmé’s shoulder as she leaned against him, likely relaxing for the first time all day. He studied her, his beautiful wife. His angel and the guiding light of the Republic, and there was no doubt in his mind that he loved her. That, secret as their love was, he never once regretted it. Not once. Never.

The evening grew long as they all amused each other with stories and tricks and displays of grandeur. But as usual it wasn’t long until the twins took off, their son intent on showing something to their daughter, leaving their parents alone.

Anakin shifted until he was on his back, his body extended like a long line along the length of the sofa. His head rested in Padmés lap, and immediately he felt her fingers sink into his hair. The Jedi sighed in contentment before he found his words. “You know, I’ve been thinking about leaving the Order. Telling them the truth.”

Padmé hummed. This wasn’t the first time he’d said this. It was simply a gage he used, now and then, to see how receptive she might be to the idea. How receptive _he_ might be.

“They wouldn’t be happy,” Anakin carried on, envisioning the Council’s reaction in his mind. “And I’m sure it would be quite a scandal for you.”

“Marrying a Jedi?” she teased. “Having children with him? I’m not sure scandal is a strong enough word.”

Anakin sighed and closed his eyes as he enjoyed the feel of her fingers burrowing through his hair. The sound of the twins playing somewhere nearby, rowdy like siblings often are filled the air. He could almost pretend.

“We could live here. Or on Naboo. I could be your personal bodyguard. She,” he nodded in the general direction of their daughter, “could decide if she wants to stay in the Temple or leave. But I think she would leave with us.” He peeked an eye up at Padmé with a smile. “I could still teach her better about the Force than anyone else can. I can teach them both.”

His wife huffed a laugh. Her smile was warm and amused. “Of course you could.”

“I could,” he insisted with a grin, his eyes closing again as he imagined this world. This beautiful fantasy. “Obi-Wan could visit us. We wouldn’t have to hide. We’d just be a family, making the galaxy a better place.”

“There’s only one problem.”

“What’s that?”

Anakin opened his eyes when she stroked the side of his face. Her smile was gentle. “You like being a Jedi. And you do so much good. You’re even a Master now, just like you’ve always dreamed of. It’s a part of you.”

He stared at her as he searched his feelings, then reached for her hand and held it against his cheek.

“I could give it up. For you.” The honesty in his voice was clear, and he knew she heard it. “Just ask.”

Padmé regarded him with fathomless eyes, gaging his words, judging what might be different now than the last time he’d said them. He didn’t know what it was, but there _was_ something different. Fatigue? Hope? Relief? Worry? Whatever it was, he knew it resounded in some way with his wife, because her eyes softened.

“Maybe someday I will,” Padmé finally said. “When I’m no longer Grand Chancellor. When the galaxy is more stable and the Jedi aren’t needed as much anymore. Maybe then … I will.”

With tender care, Anakin took her hand and lifted it to his lips, pressing a small kiss there.

“I look forward to it.”

They smiled at each other, then at the twins as they raced into the room again, all smiles and radiant youth. Rare as these moments were, they were his favorite. The most precious he had, because this was his family. The treasures of his life. And watching them, happy, healthy, alive in a world growing with peace and prosperity, peace and prosperity he and Padmé had worked so hard to achieve ….

It was a dream come true, and he hoped the dream would continue forever. Anakin hoped it would never end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! If you only want the happiness, end here. If you want angst, just keep going.


	2. A Cold Reality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chance for a happy ending. You know what’s coming. After all, all dreams have to end sometime.

The darkness gave way to the familiar experience of buoyed weightlessness that came every time he hung in the bacta tank. The first few moments were always the best. His body wasn’t yet torturing him with all its endless aches and pains from injuries that had seemingly decided to heal only so much. It was also when the dreams lingered longest, like the fading scent of something beautiful.

He hated them, those horrible, sickening dreams. They pained him more than his physical body ever could.

Even now he could hear them, like a distant echo. Their laughter. The children he’d never had. Never been able to meet. Sometimes it was only one child. Triplets. Entire scores of beautiful brown and blond haired children, but it didn’t matter because it was always the same.

Padmé. And children. _Their_ children. All of them happy in a world that did not exist, and never would.

These dreams always tormented him when he was in the bacta. As if the bacta was somehow attempting to fix and soothe his mind, since it couldn’t properly fix his body.

As always, those first few moments awakening from the bacta were the best and the worst. With no pain, and the sound of children happy in his ears, he could almost believe. Almost imagine. Padmé, alive. Their child, alive. No betrayals. No death.

Then the pain would return. So too would it return in his heart, and he’d hate the dreams for the lies they attempted to weave. For the wishes they made him wish, if only it was within his power, within the _dark side_ _’s power_ ….

But it wasn’t. And he was a fool to even consider deluding himself.

Darth Vader opened his eyes and activated the lift, all the while flexing the mental muscle he used to banish the phantom laughter of children. The warm embrace of Padmé. The life he’d longed for once, and would never have.

They were dead to him. All of it was, and he was no longer that man. These dreams, they were insidious. They made him weak.

And Darth Vader, as he always did, dreaded the next time he would be forced back into the tank and the torturous dreams that waited him there. Dreaded the way his heart turned traitor, and sank so easily back into them and the joy that would only destroy him further.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angst or no angst, I hope you enjoyed this story!


End file.
